Does environmental regulation improve public health? Evidence from China's Two Control Zones policy
Improving public health is the premise of sustainable human development and an essential condition of economic growth. However, increasing severe environmental pollution poses a threat to public health. Implementing environmental regulation policy has become a meaningful way to control environmental...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-01-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1059890/full |
| _version_ | 1797944902070304768 |
|---|---|
| author | Ningze Yang Ziwei Liu Yuxi Lin Yongliang Yang Yongliang Yang Yongliang Yang |
| author_facet | Ningze Yang Ziwei Liu Yuxi Lin Yongliang Yang Yongliang Yang Yongliang Yang |
| author_sort | Ningze Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Improving public health is the premise of sustainable human development and an essential condition of economic growth. However, increasing severe environmental pollution poses a threat to public health. Implementing environmental regulation policy has become a meaningful way to control environmental pollution and the basis and guarantee for achieving public health. This paper aims to study the impact of environmental regulation on public health. The Two Control Zones (TCZ) policy is the earliest and stricter environmental regulation in China. Based on the policy experiment of TCZ, this paper analyzes the role of TCZ policy in improving public health using the DID model and data from 112 cities. The study finds that the TCZ policy can significantly improve public health, and this improvement effect was continuous and lagging. The results of benchmark regression show that the implementation of the TCZ policy has reduced the incidence rate of respiratory diseases in TCZ areas by 5.7%. When considering city heterogeneity in terms of economic and geographical conditions, the study further found that the impact of improvement is largest for cities in more heavily non-provincial capital and central and western regions, respectively. In addition, the results of mediating test show that TCZ policy improves public health by reducing environmental pollution. Our research fills the gap in the literature on the micro effects of environmental regulation policy on public health in developing countries. The government should prioritize environmental pollution control through reasonable environmental regulation policies. The government should strengthen environmental information disclosure to remind the public to deal with air pollution. The government and enterprises also should take various environmental protection measures to reduce air pollution emissions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T20:45:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-67046c95c9664f57b1f842b98c6838cf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T20:45:52Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-67046c95c9664f57b1f842b98c6838cf2023-01-24T07:36:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652023-01-011110.3389/fpubh.2023.10598901059890Does environmental regulation improve public health? Evidence from China's Two Control Zones policyNingze Yang0Ziwei Liu1Yuxi Lin2Yongliang Yang3Yongliang Yang4Yongliang Yang5School of Economics and Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, ChinaSilk and Fashion Culture Research Center of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, ChinaGreen and Low-Carbon Technology and Industrialization of Modern Logistics, Zhejiang Engineering Research Center, Wenzhou, ChinaImproving public health is the premise of sustainable human development and an essential condition of economic growth. However, increasing severe environmental pollution poses a threat to public health. Implementing environmental regulation policy has become a meaningful way to control environmental pollution and the basis and guarantee for achieving public health. This paper aims to study the impact of environmental regulation on public health. The Two Control Zones (TCZ) policy is the earliest and stricter environmental regulation in China. Based on the policy experiment of TCZ, this paper analyzes the role of TCZ policy in improving public health using the DID model and data from 112 cities. The study finds that the TCZ policy can significantly improve public health, and this improvement effect was continuous and lagging. The results of benchmark regression show that the implementation of the TCZ policy has reduced the incidence rate of respiratory diseases in TCZ areas by 5.7%. When considering city heterogeneity in terms of economic and geographical conditions, the study further found that the impact of improvement is largest for cities in more heavily non-provincial capital and central and western regions, respectively. In addition, the results of mediating test show that TCZ policy improves public health by reducing environmental pollution. Our research fills the gap in the literature on the micro effects of environmental regulation policy on public health in developing countries. The government should prioritize environmental pollution control through reasonable environmental regulation policies. The government should strengthen environmental information disclosure to remind the public to deal with air pollution. The government and enterprises also should take various environmental protection measures to reduce air pollution emissions.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1059890/fullpublic healthTwo Control Zonepolicyenvironmental pollutiondifference-in-differences modelenvironmental regulation |
| spellingShingle | Ningze Yang Ziwei Liu Yuxi Lin Yongliang Yang Yongliang Yang Yongliang Yang Does environmental regulation improve public health? Evidence from China's Two Control Zones policy Frontiers in Public Health public health Two Control Zone policy environmental pollution difference-in-differences model environmental regulation |
| title | Does environmental regulation improve public health? Evidence from China's Two Control Zones policy |
| title_full | Does environmental regulation improve public health? Evidence from China's Two Control Zones policy |
| title_fullStr | Does environmental regulation improve public health? Evidence from China's Two Control Zones policy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does environmental regulation improve public health? Evidence from China's Two Control Zones policy |
| title_short | Does environmental regulation improve public health? Evidence from China's Two Control Zones policy |
| title_sort | does environmental regulation improve public health evidence from china s two control zones policy |
| topic | public health Two Control Zone policy environmental pollution difference-in-differences model environmental regulation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1059890/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ningzeyang doesenvironmentalregulationimprovepublichealthevidencefromchinastwocontrolzonespolicy AT ziweiliu doesenvironmentalregulationimprovepublichealthevidencefromchinastwocontrolzonespolicy AT yuxilin doesenvironmentalregulationimprovepublichealthevidencefromchinastwocontrolzonespolicy AT yongliangyang doesenvironmentalregulationimprovepublichealthevidencefromchinastwocontrolzonespolicy AT yongliangyang doesenvironmentalregulationimprovepublichealthevidencefromchinastwocontrolzonespolicy AT yongliangyang doesenvironmentalregulationimprovepublichealthevidencefromchinastwocontrolzonespolicy |